Manufacture of filter tip cigarettes



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Patented May 30, 1939 NEED STATES PATENT OFFICE MANUFACTURE OF FILTER TIP CIGARETTES Application February 5, 1935, Serial No. 5,115 In Great Britain February 12, 1934 2 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of cigarettes and is particularly concerned with the manufacture of filter tip cigarettes.

It has been found that, for the manufacture 5 of filter tip cigarettes, the most suitable and effective material consists of or comprises crepe paper. Such paper is, however, unobtainable in continuous lengths with the creping running longitudinally and the present invention provides a simple and effective method whereby crepe paper which is creped in the usual manner transversely of its length may be formed into wads or fillings of circular cross-section while moving axially in relation to the direction of creping of the material.

According to the present invention there is provided, in the manufacture of filter tip cigarettes, a method of producing a compact filter tip filling comprising transversely cutting strips from a length of multi-layer crepe paper, feeding said out strips at spaced intervals onto a traveling continuous paper strip, positioning a tobacco intercepting element over said out strips and moving the same along with said traveling paper strip, depositing tobacco on said traveling paper strip, cutting the deposited tobacco at the ends of said intercepting element, and removing the tobacco from said intercepting means. The traveling paper strip may then be wrapped about the alternate lengths of tobacco and out strips of crepe paper.

The filter tip material may be applied to the paper strip in a plurality of cut layers arranged in fiat formation, or the strip of material, after being cut transversely from a length thereof, may be folded or bunched to a more or less circular or other suitable cross-section prior to application on the paper strip.

By the present invention the necessity for providing separate mechanism for forming the filter tip material to a circular cross-section may be avoided.

The invention is hereinafter described by Way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figure l is a view in side elevation illustrating one embodiment of the invention as applied to the production of filter tip cigarettes on the continuous rod principle;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1, viewed from the right-hand side, and with the plunger 6, hereinafter to be described, removed for the sake of clearness; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the cutting means illustrated in Figure 1 and hereinafter to be described, and of the means for reciprocating said cutting means, viewed from the right-hand side.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one embodiment and with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying diagram- 5 matic drawings, strip material I consisting, for example, of several layers of crepe paper with or without intervening layers of absorbent or other desired material, is fed from a supply spool (not shown) by means of intermittently 10 driven grooved rollers 2, 2a on to a table 3, the material being guided by lateral guides 21) and upper guides 20 so as to pass beneath a knife 4 which operates to cut strips transversely from the length of the material, it being understood that in the strips out 01f the creping will extend longitudinally of the strips. The strips preferably are double the desired length of filter tip and are of a width less than the width of the paper strip 5. The strips I of filter tip material as they are cut off by the cutter 4 are fed lengthwise by the plunger 6 into a guide 'I, the plunger 6 having a grooved head 60. which is adapted to slide in corresponding grooves lain the guide 1. The strips I are fed through the guide I on to the paper strip 5 passing over a roller 8, which strip 5 is led from a supply spool I2 over a roller 8a and guide 8b and is previously pasted or coated with adhesive at the desired positions by means of an intermittently operating pasting device. Such pasting device may consist, for example, of a roller l3 co-operating with a roller l3a. partially immersed in adhesive in a container l3e, the roller I3 being carried by an arm l3b operated by a cam l3c and a return spring ltd. The strips I are confined and held upon the paper strip by means of blades 9 carried by an endless chain II] or the like passing around sprockets ll, Ila driven by gearing II b (Figures 2 and 3) and guiding means l5 may be provided to maintain the pressure of the blades 9 on the strips I. Conveniently the sprockets II, Ila are arranged at an angle so that the blades 9 may move into engagement with the strips I with a downward motion and after passing around the sprocket Ila return in a path which may be disposed clear of the tobacco feed hopper l4 and other parts. The paper strip 5 moves on a guide Mb beneath the tobacco feed hopper Hi from which the tobacco filler I la is deposited. The tobacco intercepted by the blades 9 is subsequently removed by suction through a flexible tube I (Fig. 3) extending from a bearing member I6 and terminating in a suction nozzle l6b mounted intermediate duplicate cutters l6a carried by a reciprocating device not shown in Fig. 1, and hereinafter to be described with reference to Fig. 3. After the removal of tobacco from the intercepting means the filler, consisting of alternate lengths of tobacco and of filter tip material carried on the paper strip 5, passes into engagement with a wrapping belt l1 led over a roller Fla and is carried thereby through the garniture l8 or other rod-forming means. Ihe continuous rod produced is subsequently cut off so that the double length filter tips and double length tobacco fillings are bisected.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the duplicate cutting blades lSa are driven bymeans of a coaxially mounted gear wheel 28a engaging with a gear wheel 28 carried upon a shaft slidably mounted for axial relative movement in the bearing member 16 and the double-armed bracket 34. The duplicate cutting blades 16a are rotatably mounted in the lower arm of a bell-crank lever 33 pivoted coaxially with the gear wheel 28 on the bracket 34. A spring 32 under tension engages the upper arm of the bell-crank lever and urges the lever into the position in which the cutting blades are inoperative. A rotatable cam 3| bears against the upper arm of the lever 33 or a projection thereof, and upon rotation periodically rocks the lever about its pivot so as to bring the cutting blades into the operative position shown. The bracket 34 is supported by pins 38, 30a attached to the upper ends of its two arms and slidably mounted in guides 29, 29a. The pin 29 is connected through a link 35 to the arm 26 of a double-armed lever 26, 26a which is caused to reciprocate by means of a cam 25, driven by a shaft 21, bearing against a projection of the arm 26a. The motion so produced is transmitted via the arm 26, the link 35, the pin 30, the bracket 34 and the bell-crank lever 33 and causes axial 0 oscillation of the cutting blades Ilia.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments hereinbefore described. For example, the strips l of material after being cut off by the cutter 4 may be pre-formed by any suitable means to a more or less circular or other desired cross-section prior to application on to the paper strip and in such cases it may be possible to dispense with the use of the wrapping belt [1. British Patents Nos. 404,711 and 404,712 disclose means suitable for the consolidation of the strips.

What I claim is:

1. In the manufacture of filter tip cigarettes, the method of producing a compact filter tip filling comprising transversely cutting strips from a length of multilayer crepe paper, feeding said out strips at spaced intervals onto a traveling continuous paper strip, positioning a tobacco intercepting element over said out strips and moving the same along with said traveling paper strip, depositing tobacco on said traveling paper strip, cutting the deposited tobacco at the ends of said intercepting element, and removing the tobacco from said intercepting means.

2. In the manufacture of filter tip cigarettes, the method of producing a compact filter tip filling comprising transversely cutting strips from a length of multilayer crepe paper, feeding said out strips at spaced intervals onto a traveling continuous paper strip, positioning a tobacco intercepting element over said out strips and moving the same along with said traveling paper strip, depositing tobacco on said traveling paper strip, cutting the deposited tobacco at the ends of said intercepting element, removing the tobacco from said intercepting means, and wrapping the travelling paper strip about the alternate lengths of tobacco and cut strips of crepe paper.

WILLIAM FREDERICK MAITLAND EDWARDS. 

